Patience
by LadySaxophone
Summary: Ever since he started working as a GP, John's been stopping at a small diner after work. He and a certain consulting detective have gained something of a reputation there. *Contains an OC and a cameo of Miss Mary Morstan, but NO ROMANCE*
1. Good Days

"Customer walking in!"

The familiar yell had Jessie raising her head away from her phone, but the fakey _no-I-really-am-happy-to-serve-you_ smile she usually plastered on her face for a customer soon melted into a genuine one. She ran to the kitchen only to stop short at the door and poke her head in.

"Doctor John's order, Lil!"

Jessie spun back around, heading to the restaurant's glass doors. Doctor John Watson was entering in at a brisk walk with a friendly smile; must've been a good day then.

" 'lo Jessie! Haven't been working too hard I hope?"

"Hey Doctor John, it's good to see you. It was pretty busy here before you came but it seems to have calmed down a bit now. Want to sit at my section?"

"Always do. How's school?"

Jessie had met her regular customer prior to becoming a waitress at _The Sparrows;_ a small diner located right across the street from where she wanted to work someday. She'd actually shadowedj Doctor Watson there once, and now he made a point of sitting in her section whenever he fancied a meal after work. He always left a ridiculously generous tip, "helping out the future generation," he called it.

"Same as always, I was _really _looking forward to the weekend. You getting your usual?"

"Oh, and a cuppa hot tea please!"

"Coming right up."

When Jessie got back with the drink, John was reading the paper but smiled up at her as she approached.

"One tea, piping hot. Hey, I read your latest blog entry! Did you really dress up like a ninja from a comic book? And more importantly do you have pictures?"

John gave an easy, if a tad bashful, laugh, "Sorry Jessie, no pictures. You kind of had to be there, but yes I really did fake fight someone in a ninja costume…in public no less."

"I'm sad to have missed that. I loved the blog post, though! You guys got a case going on now?"

"That's actually why I'm here. We don't and Sherlock has been _insufferable _with boredom. I thought I'd delay going home for a while."

Eying a small family making its way toward the door, Jessie shot John a quick, friendly smile.

"Well, it's always good to see you. Your order should be ready soon."

For a while work dragged on, with John comfortably reading at his own table while Jessie cleaned up the spills of a three-year-old and took more orders. It was five and they were getting the mini rush of early dinner-goers before the inevitable rush around six thirty.

As predicted though, the door to the restaurant suddenly burst open and the purposeful strides of Sherlock Holmes made their way over to Doctor John's table.

This was always Jessie's favorite part. Doctor Watson raised his head at the footsteps and when his eyes landed on his friend, his whole face lit up as if Sherlock had made his day just by walking through the door.

And then of course Sherlock had to go and ruin it by shouting out,

"We have a case, John! Lestrade just texted me; there's been a triple murder!"

It was, of course, in a tone and volume completely inappropriate for conveying such news. John let out an exasperated sigh. The family in the corner looked absolutely horrified and the mum even reached over to cover her child's ears. If one listened closely, the sound of the cook's laughter could be heard from the kitchen. Jessie just calmly made her way to the back to grab Doctor John's order; already packed up to go.

"You do realize _case_ is synonyms with_ shag_ right?" Lily quipped.

Jessie rolled her eyes but couldn't help the snort. As she wound her way through the tables toward the odd pair she saw that Sherlock had not calmed down and was still as animated as a kid on Christmas. He was even bouncing on his heals a little. Doctor John had one hand held out in a placating gesture and was looking around wincing.

"Sherlock-"

"Ah, Miss Jessica, thank you for the food. It's excellent that it's all packed up and ready to go. Come on, John." With that, Sherlock spun on his heel and nearly ran towards the taxi waiting outside.

John himself turned, cringing, towards Jessie.

"Here's your check and your food. I also included a little something for Sherlock, on the house, since you told me you were worried about him not eating much."

John gave her an appreciative look, "Jessie, you're a bloody angel! Thanks again. Oh, and here." The doctor dug in his pocket before handing Jessie his usual, generous tip. He gave her one final smile before running out of the restaurant.

"I expect to read all about this one." She called after him, before turning to deal with the other, scandalized customers.


	2. Bad Days

Jessie really hated training new people. Coworkers were great and all, but a new person was always something that threw off her rhythm and slowed her down. She also hated training people who were much older than herself. Who wanted to take orders from some young girl, no matter how well versed in the job?

But Mary wasn't too bad. She was quick and well-coordinated and already treating Jessie with respect and perhaps just a hint of sisterly affection. She listened attentively and only asked intelligent questions.

Jessie was kind of wondering what a clearly very educated middle-aged woman was doing working as a waitress. She just couldn't think of a way to phrase the question without sounding rude or intrusive.

"Customer walking in!"

The familiar call had both Jessie and Mary looking toward the door only to see a small tired-looking man limp through the rain toward the door. Jessie felt her shoulders sag; must've been a bad day. Completely forgetting about Mary she headed to the kitchen.

"Lily, Doctor John's here again."

"He shouldn't come here." Lily said, sadly.

"I know, I know. But we can't very well kick him out. Just get his usual up, alright?"

Jessie arrived back at the door just as John walked in. He graced her with a thin, _required-out-of-politeness_ smile.

"Hello Jess," he murmured, "same section as usual?"

Jessie smiled and nodded while John limped his way over to his regular table.

"Who's that?"

Jessie started at the soft query, only just now remembering Mary's presence.

"Oh, that's Doctor John. He's a regular here, works across the street at the A&E. Grab him a hot tea would you?"

After serving John his drink Mary caught Jessie's arm in the back. She gently led her to an abandoned corner before turning and quietly saying,

"I got him his tea, but I just wanted to ask you; are you sure you don't want to take his order? He just…seemed a bit down and I thought since he knew you, you might be able to cheer him up."

Jessie gave a humorless laugh before replying, "Doctor John's always down."

Mary waited for an elaboration. Jessie sighed,

"Look he's been in the news for a while. Haven't you seen?"

Mary looked uncomfortable and reached up to play with a heart-shaped necklace she wore,

"I've been…busy."

Jessie shrugged but continued to elaborate.

"Well since this has all been public knowledge for a while, I might as well tell you. Doctor John comes here all the time after work. I'm studying to be a doctor and I'd shadowed him once. It's his way of showing support. He always leaves me a really nice tip. He used to come here about three or four times a month."

"But now?" Mary prodded quietly.

"Now? Now he's in almost every day. See, he used to have this friend. Well, I say friend. If you ask Lily…"

"the cook?"

"yeah, that's the one." Jessie confirmed, "If you ask her, she'll tell you they were lovers. But that's just speculation and beside the point. The point is they were close. Really close. And he used to pick John up after he'd ordered."

"Not after he'd eaten?"

"Oh, no! Believe me we learned rather quickly to just always make his meal to go. He never used to stay long enough to eat it. His friend—Sherlock was his name—was always grabbing him and dragging him to murder cases."

"Murder cases!?"

"Yep! Trust me the first time he burst in here literally screaming bloody murder (in a joyful tone no less) we were about ready to phone the police. We continued to be a bit wary of him until I found Doctor Watson's blog. Sherlock was a private detective, or something like it, and he took John with him on cases which the doctor would later post on the internet. We were all pretty big fans of it, actually."

"What happened?" Mary asked.

Jessie squirmed a bit; this was always the hardest part of the explanation.

"Sherlock pissed off some criminal. Moriarty, I think his name was. Anyway, this Moriarty bloke set out to ruin Sherlock's reputation. He made it seem like Sherlock was the one committing all the crimes in the first place in order to look good solving them. With the press against him and the police actually hunting him down, I guess the pressure got to be too much because…well…Sherlock jumped off a building and died right in front of John."

"Oh…that's terrible. The poor man." Mary looked horrified.

"Yeah, you really should have seen him before. He was always so happy and kind. Constantly asking about my school work and what all the other workers were up to. We've tried to support him as best we can. All the employees here wear these." Jessie paused to point to the _**I Believe in Sherlock Holmes**_ button she had pinned to her apron. "And sometimes, if we can get away with it, we give him his meal for free. But he doesn't like charity or pity. He was a soldier once, you know."

"It's kind of you all to try and do something for him though. It sounds like he's been through hell."

Jessie closed her eyes for a minute before saying, "I don't think he's even accepted it really. Not yet. The way he just sits in here and _waits_…I mean, how do you even begin to come back from something like that?"

"How indeed." Mary muttered half to herself. She once again reached up and fiddled with her necklace, seemingly lost in a thought.

"Do you mind if I go and wait on him? It's just that I'd…" Mary trailed off. Jessie gave her a thin, sad smile, recognizing the sentiment that Mary couldn't articulate.

"Sure. After all, he's a regular so he'll be patient about any mistakes you may make." She paused before adding sadly, "Actually, Doctor John is one of the most patient men I know."

**AN: So I'm writing again. This little story was inspired by my own restaurant job and the fact that I once watched _The Reichenbach Fall _before coming to work. (By the way: don't do that). I hope Jessie's friendliness with John and Sherlock didn't come off too far fetched. I, myself tend to remember a regular customer's name and have had conversations before. I just felt like both Sherlock and John would be people who made more of an impression.**

**I didn't really want to write a reunion per se, and that's why this story ends where it does. I have read and enjoyed many a reunion-fic but I personally will probably never try my hand at it simply because in a few months we'll have the official reunion and it'll be much better than anything I could ever write. However, I _did _want to include Mary Morstan. In this story she exists only as an audience member, someone to whom Jessie could share her thoughts and opinions about John and Sherlock. I did that on purpose because, again, she's going to be SPOILERS BEYOND THIS POINT SPOILERS BEYOND THIS POINT written into the show and I don't know her character yet. I based her off of what I know from the Guy Richie films and from the Sherlock Holmes book. Neither really gives us much to go on. Yet SPECULATION ON THE SPOILERS BEYOND THIS POINT SPECULATION ON THE SPOILERS BEYOND THIS POINT I'm getting the feeling that Mary is going to be the one to mend the boys relationship. Anybody agree? I just think that'd she be someone who could understand and would be more willing to sit down and listen to Sherlock's point of view. Because of the point in time they're adding her into the show I get the feeling that she's kind of like John's ray of light. She's someone who helps pull him out of his grief and I tried to sow the seeds of that a little bit. Please tell me what you think! I love speculating about Season 3!**

**As always, please review! **


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